It’s rare to find a true bright spot in the commercial printing industry these days, but if one can be found, large-format, digital inkjet graphics is it. In the large-format market, digital inkjet has competition from other technologies like screen, photo imaging, and offset, but its quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in a market where the most common run length one, are hard to compete with. Printers getting involved in this market may also find themselves able to broaden their businesses into a refreshingly new customer base.

According to our TWGA Printing Historical Database, the percentage of printers and trade shops that plan to invest in large-format printing equipment has been on a steady rise over the last six years. When we first started asking about this technology and equipment in 1999, 7% of printers and trade shops planned to invest in large-format printers in the next 12 months. In the latest survey, 14% did.

While proofing, signage, and trade show graphics are among the most well known applications, other large-format applications include floor graphics, fine art prints, legal/courtroom graphics, vehicle and building graphics and wraps, and even giant books. The book Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom, for example, measures 5x7 feet and weighs 133 pounds, is in the Guinness Book of World Records, and was printed on a HP DesignJet 5500.